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3 months ago
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World number one Iga Swiatek moved into the quarter-finals of the French Open with a 6-0 6-0 demolition of Russia's Anastasia Potapova in 40 minutes on Sunday.
Potapova was playing in the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, but Swiatek took full control of the play and gave the Russian no time to breathe between a flurry of points.
Potapova attacked Swiatek's serve on the odd occasion to claim a couple of winners, but the Pole's near-perfect shots left the Russian with no answers as the top seed wrapped up the first set in 19 minutes.
The crowd inside Court Philippe-Chatrier tried their best to encourage Potapova but Swiatek looked at ease, forcing the Russian into several mistakes as the top seed consolidated her early break.
The only problem Swiatek had was the swirling wind on serve, with the roof finally left open after several days of rain.
World number one Iga Swiatek moved into the quarter-finals of the French Open with a thumping 6-0 6-0 demolition of Russia's Anastasia Potapova in just 40 minutes on Sunday
Swiatek was in inspired form as she lost just 10 points across the two sets of the match
Swiatek eventually put Potapova out of her misery, and the Russian made a hasty exit from the court.
Swiatek will face either fifth seed Marketa Vondrousova or Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic in the quarter-finals.
Speaking after her victory, the Pole said: 'It was the same but I was just really focused and really in the zone and wasn't really looking at the score.
'So I just played my game and worked on the stuff I wanted to work on and it went really quickly, pretty weird.'
Swiatek's victory also saw several eye-catching stats, such as the 23-year-old only losing 10 points in the match.
Meanwhile, she won without even facing a game point, while Potapova hit a forehand into the net on what was Swiatek's first match point.
It was a tough day for Potapova, who was in the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time
Swiatek, 23, is a three-time winner of the French Open (pictured with the trophy in 2013)
The victory within 40 minutes is also the quickest completed main draw match at Roland Garros since Opta started to collect stats of that kind in 2015.
Elsewhere, Swiatek became just the third player in history to claim 6-0 6-0 victories at the French Open in consecutive years, joining Gabriela Sabatini (1992 and 1993) and Mary Pierce (1993 and 1994).
Swiatek is a three-time winner of the tournament and few would bet against her backing up her 2020, 2022 and 2023 triumphs this time around.
English (US)